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July 9, 2018

India’s ‘Request For Information’ for fighter jets get six bids

Six global aircraft manufacturers have responded to a Request for
Information (RFI) from the Indian Air Force to supply 110 fighter
aircraft. The deadline for the RFI was July 6. All six manufacturers
have earlier bid for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA),
which was cancelled in 2015.

Officials confirmed that six bids
have been received, of which Lockheed Martin F-16 and SAAB Gripen are
single-engine fighters, while Boeing F-18, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter
Typhoon and United Aircraft Corporation MiG-35 are twin-engine ones.

“The
bids will be evaluated after which the IAF will issue the Request For
Proposal (RFP) with the exact specifications of the aircraft to be
procured. The RFP is expected by early next year,” an official source
said.

The RFI, issued on April 6, states that the government
plans to buy 110 fighters jets, of which 85% will have to be built in
India under the ‘Make in India’ programme in partnership with a
“Strategic Partner/Indian Production Agency.”

The procurement
will be processed through the Strategic Partnership (SP) model under the
Defence Procurement Procedure. However, the SP model itself needs some
clarification which could delay the process.

Air Force sources
expressed confidence that the technical evaluation and trials can be
completed very quickly, as all the aircraft have been extensively tested
earlier.

“Once the process starts, from the technical evaluation
to the down select of one aircraft can be completed in less than two
years. After that it depends on how fast the contract negotiations can
be completed,” a source said.

Earlier, the IAF was looking for a
single-engine jet to replace the MiG-21s and MiG-27s being phased out of
service, but the RFI did not specify it, opening up the contest to both
single-and twin-engine jets. Officials said both configurations were
equally competent and the final choice would depend on the price and
extent of technology transfer.

According to informal estimates,
the entire cost could be worth over $15 billion. Single-engine aircraft
will cost lower than the twin-engine jets, both in unit and operational
costs.

The move comes almost two decades after the IAF began the
last major effort to acquire fighters in large numbers. The effort
culminated in the global tender for 126 fighters under the MMRCA deal
which was cancelled in 2015 after the Modi government decided to buy 36
Rafale fighters from France under a government-to- government deal.